FEAR ANTIC STAR Big game of risk and reward, but one who masters the wind off the ocean will get the fairytale ending
The 5th is not an overlong Par 4 at 374 yards. But out of bounds behind hind the green means you’ll be retrieving ving your ball from the beach. Knock if off line and you’ll be in all sorts of trouble ouble with brambles and... ugh.
It’s just best to keep it on the straight and narrow. » Sky Sports will televise The Open live this week, and the scale of their operation is remarkable. They have 400 miles of cable, 120 cameramen and 14 outside broadcast trucks at Portrush. Visually, it is quite an intimidating tee shot. There is Big Nellie over there on the right, another bunker on the left. For a long hole with a driver in your hand, it is quite a narrow landing area. If you get a good tee shot away, you are going to have the chance to go for this green in two. For a par-five, it is a good green.
www.theopen.com en.com A huge improvement to what the 8th was before. You have two options off the tee: take the bunkers out of play short or take them out of play long. To get past the second bunker is probably 320 and around 290 to the first one. If you hit it past the bunkers, it is quite narrow, but you only leave yourself with a wedge in.
www.theopen.com I like a Par 4 to finish any round, but this one is no straightforward hole. It’s a tough dog-leg from left to right.
Again, fortune will favour the brave, but who will be sufficiently game enough to take it on?
Sky Sports is the only place to see live coverage of The Open at Royal Portrush
There’s a huge ravine between the 16th’s tee and a pretty small green. Miss that putting surface and you’ll find yourself where the lions and tigers go to die. A serious test of character. If it’s tight on Sunday, we’ll see who holds their nerve.